Wise Counsel Part 4
Godly Counsel vs. Common Counsel
“I’m so excited. I finally got the breakthrough I’ve been looking for all my life. I see now that the way I was thinking was completely wrong. Thank God I’m free at last.”
My dear friend was ecstatic over her latest self-discovery. I cautiously rejoiced with her out of courtesy. But having heard this same report so many times before, I recognized it as just another high point in her never-ending cycle of ups and downs.
The counseling treadmill can keep you going, but where is it going? Some run on it for an entire lifetime. She’s been having breakthroughs like this, for 51 years.
Listing the features of Godly Counsel will spotlight the unbelief that keeps the treadmill running.
“You must be born again.” We are born sinners, and that’s hopeless. Christ gives us a new life, not just a better life. The “new birth” is something literal. It’s not a metaphor. It includes the ability to see The Kingdom of God. “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new and all things are of God.” Go ahead, say it, “I don’t believe that!”
Christ wouldn’t even begin a consultation with Nicodemus without addressing this primary qualification first (Jn.3). You are wasting your time and money on counseling that does not promote this starting point. 51 years is a big tab.
“Reckon the old man dead.” Rehabilitating the old self is not the objective of Godly Counsel. Neither is improving it or fixing it. The mission is annihilation not rehabilitation. “Put to death your members which are upon the earth ” (KJV).
God’s answer for sin’s tendencies is, “Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” Have you tried “you can’t be in two places at once” therapy? It’s not the latest fad, it’s just the answer for victorious living.
The “old man” is the problem, so detach from him like he was an abusive ex-spouse. Affections for your old life create “one foot on the dock and one in the boat” syndrome. Guess where you’re not going in that condition… anywhere!
Flawed man trying to fix flawed man is a revolving door of futility. It creates lots of repeat business for Common Counsel. The Apostle Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.” That’s the exit from a life that’s going around in circles. It’s the final “self-discovery.”
A new mind. Of course you don’t think like that, it’s contrary to the natural mind and “The natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God:” (KJV). That’s why new life in Christ includes a brand new hard drive of thinking. “We have the mind of Christ ” (NIV).
Common Counsel scorns “born again thinking,” deriding it as “denial” and dishonesty. “If you’re a new creature, why do you still have the old feelings?” This is the abortion of your spiritual life.
Acknowledging a new life growing within you, is not denial. On the contrary, it enables its realization. Ask any Mother.
“Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” is the Godly Counsel of God’s life-giving “Word.” The new mind is vital. It’s the womb of your new life in Christ.
God’s “Word” Is the sustenance of life and health. It’s “our daily bread.”
Wanna know why your soul is faltering? It’s because you’re undernourished. You don’t eat enough and you’re eating the wrong things. It’s no mystery. “Man lives by every word of God.” “His words are life to those that find them, and health to their whole body” (NAS). The search is over. But unbelief and the insatiable appetite for mental junk-food sustains the never-ending scavenge for more info about “me.”
Here’s your Prescription, 30 days of meditating on nothing but God’s Word. No internet, social media, TV, radio preachers, or any other reading. Too radical? What about 51 years of empty calories?
God’s Word is also our mirror. No more introspection. That search is over too. You can finally understand yourself, all you have to do is look in the mirror. The reflection is accurate, complete and unbiased. After 30 days you’ll be in “shock and awe.” All that other intel is like a fun-house mirror. It distorts self-image, the image of God and all perceptions of the world around you.
“The Lord gives wisdom, from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” Getting His perspective from His Word is effortless. What a relief! No more endless sifting through your past. Transferring all that wasted energy into usefulness can be revolutionary and inspiring. It will get you off the couch and/or out of bed. Some prefer not to however.
Mental health is; seeing as God sees so we can think with His mind. Trying to “make sense of it all” with our pea brain is futile and exhausting. We can’t, He can, so quit trying and start feeding.
Grace is unmerited favor. No more guilt! Thank God!
You’ll never make it trying to run the race of life carrying a load of guilt. That weight must be laid aside!
Guilt is what chains us to the never-ending cycle of emotional ups and downs and its maddening instability. It’s what keeps the treadmill going. It’s why you never get anywhere except back to the same old starting point that’s just been repackaged as your latest breakthrough.
The “Good News” is, God’s heart has been permanently and unchangeably won over with favor toward all mankind. Jesus did this for us. All was forgiven at The Cross. Nothing we do, have done, or ever will do, can change that. That’s “The Gospel.” Yet most Christians languish for lack of its dynamic impact upon them. Why? It’s because they don’t believe it.
Common Counsel has no answer for guilt. You can beat yourself up, blame others, rationalize behaviors, justify immorality, try to compensate for your wrongs, or just take pills, it won’t remove the disturbance in your spirit.
Christ took our beating for us. His Blood is the only element that can remove guilt. “The Cup” is not found in Common Counsel. Godly Counsel is characterized by it.
The Spirit. He’s called “The Counselor” (AMP).
In the movie, “What About Bob?’” Bob is obsessed with his longing for 24 hour a day, full attention from his beloved therapist. In the end, moving in with him and his family does turn out to be the therapy that Bob really needed.
That’s the essence of The Holy Spirit’s comfort. He’s always by your side for guidance, advice, encouragement and empowering.
Permanently accessible at all times, He never even sleeps while continually offering His presence along with this promise; “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” Talk about the ultimate co-dependence. But this is good co-dependence, the healthy kind. Bob’s drove the Common Counselor to insanity.
As for His empowerment, struggling to change what we have already proven we can’t change is over. No more turning up the will power screw. Christ had His disciples wait for the Spirit to receive the power that changed them. Maybe you can’t change, but like the disciples, you can receive the power that can do the changing.
The Spirit’s influence is intimate and intuitive, not just cerebral and coldly professional like Common Counsel. Inside us He knows what’s really going on in the secret places. He’s also the only one who knows all aspects of the past, and unlike Common Counsel, He knows what lies ahead in the future as well. Good-by to anxiety.
Exercise is as important as good nutrition. The healthiest exercise of all is praying in the Spirit. Try suggesting that to your therapist.
Our High Priest
If we could, we would seek out the best counselor in the world for our needs? Why go to anyone else then when Jesus is the most expert, expert and His job description is to make us successful.
He already knows our personality, our dreams, our hardships and the destiny that integrates every aspect of our life into His exciting goals. Good-by boredom.
He’s called “Wonderful counsellor.” The wonderful part is, He does it because He loves us. That’s the ultimate distinction of Common Counsel from Godly Counsel. There’s no charge! His care is sincere, proven by the fact, that He gives it freely.
Meanwhile oceans of alternative resources, books, CDs, authors, motivational speakers, ministries, “experts,” professors, treatment centers, charlatans, quacks, internet goofballs, witchdoctors, astrologers, psychics, and cult-leaders are enabled by the vacuum of Godly Counsel and the sea of desperate people it creates.
Godly Counsel invites you to take Christ’s loving hand and step off the counseling treadmill. It doesn’t take 51 years to start enjoying His new life. Believing starts right now!